I need to have the ability to create user accounts on my Linux ( Fedora 10 ) and automatically assign a password via a bash script ( or otherwise, if need be ). It's easy to create the user via Bash eg: [whoever@server ]# /usr/sbin/useradd newuser But is it possible to assign a password in Bash, something functionally similar to this (but automated): [whoever@server ]# passwd newuser Changing password for user testpass. New UNIX password: Retype new UNIX password: passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully. [whoever@server ]#